Demystifying China
Maleeha Lodhi at Dawn: Western paranoia about China is frequently reflected in the Western media. It is exemplified by coverage in the influential news weekly The Economist, which always depicts
Some of the Greatest Scientific Hoaxes
Eleanor Harris in New Scientist: The history of science is replete with frauds and fakers – here are (some of the) eleven of the most creative. –At New Scientist we love
Aankhon Ko Visa Nahi Lagta By Gulzar
Blast from the past: Gulzar pens a beautiful ode to Mehdi Hasan, and remembers Ahmed Faraz–it was written sometime in 2012) when he learnt that Mehdi Hasan has passed away.
Maniza Naqvi on Saving Karachi’s Oldest Bookstore
Maniza Naqvi at Literary Hub: Back in December 2016, I was sitting in my office at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., feeling unmoored and disheartened. Every day, I walked
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The Public Sector Will Look Very Different in the Next Several Years
Demographic shifts will shape tomorrow’s public sector as the global population is aging, and Gen Z will make up a larger chunk of the global workforce. Comment by Irshad Salim:
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‘Organising is the Best Kind of Antidepressant’
The activists, who first met at Occupy Wall Street in 2011, talk about the limits of protest – and the power of connecting across difference to change the world Amy
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Does AI Understand Things?
Have Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrated “theory of mind”?; Do LLM representations map onto the real world?; Can (and should) we slow down AI development?; Is AI myopic? What’s the
Parties and Movements
A roundtable discussion on the challenges that left-wing political formations face around the world. Sheri Berman, Andre Pagliarini, Zachariah Mampilly and Nick Serpe in Dissent: For many socialists, the classic
8 Google Employees Invented Modern AI. Here’s the Inside Story
They met by chance, got hooked on an idea, and wrote the “Transformers” paper—the most consequential tech breakthrough in recent history. by Steven Levy at Wired: Eight names are listed
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Afghanistan: Broad Strokes and Canvases
Irshad Salim: Over the years, paints, brushes, the pellet knife and canvases substituted my textual thoughts as I looked out my window at the never-ending war in Afghanistan–broad strokes of
Imagine Bangladesh in the Year 2050
The people of Bangladesh have much to teach us about how a crowded planet can best adapt to rising sea levels. For them, that future is now This story appeared
Tales From an Attic
Sierra Bellows in The American Scholar: In February 1995, New York Governor George Pataki announced plans to close the Willard Asylum for the Insane, a state-run institution that opened in